The Sky 1 documentary, ‘Harrow: A Very British School’, highlights the slang
used by boarding schools. For new pupils, mastering the words becomes a sure
sign of belonging, says Boarding School Beak.

The Sky 1 documentary, ‘Harrow: A Very British School’, following a year in the lives of Harrow boarders, offers a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes at the famous public school.

To the uninitiated, what may seem at first strange is not only the dress – all those cute little fellows in their boaters – but also the slang. Baffling words are used freely by boys from all backgrounds: school uniforms are 'Bluers' and 'Greyers' (blue blazers, grey trousers) and the daily register is known as 'bill'.

It’s hard not to be fascinated by these insights into a closed, unfamiliar world. That same fascination could be seen in the success of the YouTube hit, ‘Eton Style’. This showed Eton boys in tails and white ties performing their own jargon-filled version of ‘Gangnam Style’ (well over three million hits at the last count) – in which they sang about being put 'in tardy' for being late for classes.

Naturally, Eton is not short of its own slang: 'rips' are not things that happen to clothes, but punishments given for bad work. Indeed, the College’s website contains a detailed ‘Glossary’, designed to help new pupils pick up new terms as quickly as possible.

At Eton, Harrow and Charterhouse (another historic boarding-school), teachers of both sexes are known as 'beaks': a term that sprang from the curious look masters (no mistresses in those days, sadly) had when sporting beak-like mortar boards. Mortar boards have long gone, but the word survives.

Much boarding-school slang may indeed seem equally strange to the uninitiated. A friend who used to teach at Charterhouse would relish confusing one and all by using the school’s distinctive jargon. One time he turned up late for a lunch date with these words:

“Sorry I’m late – I’ve just had an extra hash.”

At Charterhouse, lessons are called 'hashes' and prep – homework, in non-boarding parlance – is called 'banco', derived from the benches upon which boys used to sit while working. No wonder we looked at him so strangely.

This same fascination with the unfamiliar world of the boarding-school and its slang stretches right back to the popularity and power of ‘Tom Brown’s School days’, published in 1857 and hugely influential ever since.

Here much of the slang was threatening, suggesting bullying and violence. Few can forget the horrible scenes of 'fags' being toasted by Flashman. Fortunately 'fagging' – running personal errands for older boys – is a thing of the past (abolished at Eton in the 1970s).

But I still remember from my early days as a beak, 'fag-tests' being a common form of initiation for new boys – or 'Shells' as they’re called at Harrow. In such tests, new boys would be quizzed by older boys on whether they knew school slang and traditions.

Now that all sense of threat has thankfully been taken out of the equation, the use of such terms is an excellent way of helping a community bond. New boys may feel like strangers at first, but mastering school slang becomes a sure sign of belonging: a symbol of togetherness, common cause and corporate identity.

If boys and girls speak the same language, literally, they’re likely to feel part of the same team, which helps to create a sense of community and togetherness in a school.